X-rays at 12

[Kyna]

Hi there,

 

I found this interesting:

 

We had Isla's back x-rayed a few months ago because she was having mobility problems, she is otherwise a healthy, slim active girl, full of energy. The diagnosis is spondolosis (sp?) and perhaps a bit of degenerative disk disease. We are treating her with modified activity levels - different kinds of play - we don't take her on deep snowshoe trips, we walk on compacted easier surfaces and play a lot of catch vs. fetch. Every now and then we give her some anti-inflamatories and she is on a joint complex.

 

Anyway, the interesting thing is the history the xray gave us(?). She has been our pet since she was 8 weeks old - she did agility and she was my companion dog as a field biologist/forester. She sleeps inside on a plush pillow and has had a pretty nice life. She has always been a bombastic dog, rolling over herself and if/when hurt, she has always been stoic. That said - the xray showed that she has a handful of different little bone irregularities - each looks like a healed injury (to my untrained eye). The vet didn't venture a guess but I was wondering if these could be old, undetected injuries.

 

It is amazing how fasinating I find my dogs!

 

Kyna

[Pam Wolf]

It can be revealing. When I took Moss in for his hip x-rays we discovered he had had a broken leg sometime before I got him. Also there were indications of stitches that had healed but sub-q that had broken loose before complete healing. We never knew what happened, di dhe fall out of a truck or get run over by a cow? Never did find out. In later years he developed a stenosis of the spine and we often wondered if it was from whatever injury he had when he was a youngster.

 

Pam

 

 

Hi there,

 

I found this interesting:

 

We had Isla's back x-rayed a few months ago because she was having mobility problems, she is otherwise a healthy, slim active girl, full of energy. The diagnosis is spondolosis (sp?) and perhaps a bit of degenerative disk disease. We are treating her with modified activity levels - different kinds of play - we don't take her on deep snowshoe trips, we walk on compacted easier surfaces and play a lot of catch vs. fetch. Every now and then we give her some anti-inflamatories and she is on a joint complex.

 

Anyway, the interesting thing is the history the xray gave us(?). She has been our pet since she was 8 weeks old - she did agility and she was my companion dog as a field biologist/forester. She sleeps inside on a plush pillow and has had a pretty nice life. She has always been a bombastic dog, rolling over herself and if/when hurt, she has always been stoic. That said - the xray showed that she has a handful of different little bone irregularities - each looks like a healed injury (to my untrained eye). The vet didn't venture a guess but I was wondering if these could be old, undetected injuries.

 

It is amazing how fasinating I find my dogs!

 

Kyna

[Kyna]

That is interesting - I am glad that we had Isla x-rayed to diagnose the current problem but it also taught me a lot - there have been times when I thought she may have hurt herself but just picked herself up and kept going. In the future I will question the event vs. the dogs reaction more strongly - some dogs are just so exuberant - it is hard to know if they are hurt. Even now something will happen on a walk - a patch of deep snow or a rogue ball that she has to twist for and I wonder (and am learning) if it is too much.

[bcnewe2]

Mick was diag. with Spondylosis about 3 year ago. He has fusing between his 3rd and 5th discs. He's only 6. I've found it's genes along with enviromental factors.

He is semi-retired from trialing but gets along pretty good day to day. He's only on joint supplements, fish-oil and NASIDS as necessary.

We're careful how we do things.

I'm being very careful to look at previos siblings, and family backgrounds with more than work being looked at for my up coming puppy. But, I also own his half sister, she has no issues as of yet.

[Kyna]

With Isla we are guessing that it is environmental because she has only been symptomatic in the last 6 months. That said, she is pretty stoic so it could be genetic. I have lost touch with the breeder but am good friends with one of Isla's sisters owners - their dog is a much calmer, smaller dog and has very limited health problems compared with Isla - no sign of back problems. Isla's spondylosis isn't 'that' advanced which is good considering her age - she still has decent space between her discs. It must be difficult at 6 years old for you to watch Mick's activity - even at 12 it is hard to keep Isla from ripping around - that said we do have a 3.5 year old Border Collie as well. When Isla has flare ups we do walk them separately which has actually been really nice - it forces me to work one-on-one with each dog and they both seem to get a lot out of it. For us the main thing is the separate walks and my husband built a ramp for the car/truck. She slips at as she is first walking up the stairs sometimes but we are usually behind her and are ready to catch her. Eventually I can see having to put a gate at the top of the stairs - which we will have to anyway when our baby starts wondering around.

 

A friend of mine always adopts Rotweiller's - her dog died last winter - he had advanced spondylosis at 9 - she rescued another one this summer - ~2 years old - she seemed fine and my friend who is a tri-athelete was looking forward to trail running with her new, young, healthy dog. The new dog has much further advanced spondylosis than her old dog! But she is a dog lover and walks her dogs and then does her runs.

[bcnewe2]

I didn't mention that one of his litter mate brothers is paralized. He had a disc blow while at a trial and the shrapnel went into his spine. I remind myself what I could be dealing with and it's not that bad.

 

Mick is an old soul. He lives to work and that's about it. He still runs all he wants and has no issues doing stairs. He really has no issues unless he's over worked, which can happen quicker for him than other dogs.

 

I think most dogs show signs of Spon. later in life, it's a matter of how hard a life they lived as to if it's gonna really take it's tole. Then there's those like Mick who would have had problems no matter what.

 

I glad your Isla is not that bothered. My senior girl who's 13 blew out her knee this past summer. To old for surgery. Now that's a pitiful thing to watch. But she's stable and getting around pretty good even in the snow. I just hate seeing her senior years being spent limpy amongest the other age related issues the seniors get.

[juliepoudrier]

FWIW, when my old guy was diagnosed with spondylosis, the specialist vet I was seeing said that middle aged dogs often have spondylosis and that it was often found incidentally while taking X-rays for something else (in my dog's case, we were looking for kidney and bladder stones). My understanding from this vet is that spondylosis is rather common in dogs, although I imagine having it far enough advanced to cause spinal fusion is less common. My own dog, at age 7, had quite long spurs, nearly close enough to one another to fuse. He's nearly 15 now and is lame and can't bend well, but he still gets around and doesn't seem to be overly painful (unless you bend his spine too much). I don't crate him anymore because he wouldn't be able to turn around in a crate, and we've built him a ramp to make it easier for him to get on and off the porch without using the stairs. I've had him on various NSAIDs and other painkillers and nothing alleviates his limp. I figure it's his spine and not his leg causing it.

 

J.

[Kyna]

I am starting to see how common spondylosis is (even our vet has it!!).

 

I am sorry to hear about your old girls knee. It is one thing to see a young dog laid up with an injury but the chronic pain of old age is disheartening. For me, Isla has been such a great dog that I want her to enjoy her 'dotage' and get old as painlessly as possible. She now has about 6 or 7 growths ranging from little warty types to one big fatty growth and a little skin tag here and there - we get them aspirated if they look suspect but at her age I just don't want to put her through more surgery unless it is really necessary. Last year she needed to be anaesthetased because she had spear grass in her ears - 2x and then she needed a tooth pulled - so she was under 3 times in almost as many months - it took her a long time to recover.

 

It is wonderful to hear how you all just accept your dogs issues and- I wouldn't expect it on the boards but in our community there are lots of people who would 'give a dog back' based on a health issue that may cost them money or for which they may have to modify their lifestyle.

 

I just love old dogs though - I always have.